March 2, 2022: Reader Tips

Reader Tips 39 Comments

Based on a tip a few days ago by B A Deplorable Rupertslander, this evening we present the 1961 film, X-15. This may or may not have to do with someone (not saying who) having an incredible crush on Mary Tyler Moore. Just sayin’.

Inspiration
An Honest State of the Union

Bonus: Here are the next two video portraits of freedom protesters captured by YouTuber JB Morrison:


“You can’t force freedom on people, but they sure do flock to it.”

39 Replies to “March 2, 2022: Reader Tips”

  1. The New York Times Hasn’t Always Cared About Ukrainians

    https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2022/02/the_new_york_emtimesem_hasnt_always_cared_about_ukrainians.html

    The New York Times Moscow correspondent, Walter Duranty, admitted to being “pleased as punch” when Stalin announced his Five-Year Plan in the fall of 1928. Stalin, as Duranty observed in his well-titled book, I Write as I Please, was the world’s “greatest living statesman.” A pioneer in the art of fake news, Duranty saw signs of greatness in Stalin’s plan “to socialize, virtually overnight, a hundred million of the stubbornest and most ignorant peasants in the world.”

  2. Coulda Had A Pipeline, Ukraine War edition:

    The owner of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, that was supposed to transport natural gas from Russia to Germany, has filed for bankruptcy in Switzerland and fired its entire staff of 106. The pipeline had been completed at a cost of US$11 billion, but had not gone on line.

    Nord Stream 2 AG was a subsidiary of Gazprom, the Russian natural gas company.

    https://westernstandardonline.com/2022/03/swiss-company-bankrupt-as-side-effect-of-sanctions-on-russia/

    The Biden administration had already withdrawn support in January for the proposed EastMed natural-gas pipeline from Israel to Europe.

    https://m.jpost.com/middle-east/article-694617/amp

    Needless to say, if EastMed had not been meant to link Europe and Israel, but Europe and the Islamic State of Palestine, EastMed would have been built already, and the money put to good use financing Islamic terror all over Europe.

    Funny how nobody wants to buy oil and gas from people who don’t blow themselves up on busses, don’t fly planes into skyscrapers, don’t kill innocent people, and don’t worship demons from the Arabian desert.

    1. The Liar Kenney: ““And we certainly shouldn’t allow political science to be [a] substitute for public health science.””

      Words cannot describe my loathing for this POS. With one finger in his nose & t’other up his ass, he alternately pulls them out, takes a sniff & there’s his sciency “public health science”. It’s been nothing but politics since day 1.

      And, with all respect due to those living in shitholes like Edmonchuck & Cowtown who don’t have cranio-rectal inversion, this is precisely the conversation I had with my MLA last summer: If a particular city wants lockdowns, let ’em. It won’t take said populace long to figger out that, among others, businesses’ are losing money ’cause people are buying from places that don’t have a masking policy, that kids are doing better in schools without masks and that people are having a lot more fun in maskless communities.

      1. It won’t take said populace long to figger out

        In Edmonton? The city that overwhelmingly votes NDP both provincially and federally? The home of Rotten Red Rachel the Rancid? Hahahahahahahaha!

  4. It’s completely unfathomable to us bona fide space nuts as to why X-15 didn’t get a single Oscar, not even a mention!!!

  5. Look it up.
    Just when you thought things could not get any dumber when it comes to the not-vaccines, here it is right between the eyes.
    PFIZER IS PUSHING A DRUG TO TREAT HEART CONDITIONS CAUSED BY THE “COVID” JABS.
    Now tell me just who is stupid?

  6. Interesting read Boomerang…
    So a congregation of NATO’s top brass ensconced in their echo chambers target the Russian Central Bank with sanctions and expect what? Cookies?

    What they got instead was Russia’s deterrence forces bumped up to “a special regime of duty” – which means the Northern and Pacific fleets, the Long-Range Aviation Command, strategic bombers and the entire Russian nuclear apparatus on maximum alert.

    One Pentagon general very quickly did the basic math on that, and mere minutes later, a Ukrainian delegation was dispatched to conduct negotiations with Russia in an undisclosed location in Gomel, Belarus.

    Meanwhile, in the vassal realms, the German government was busy “setting limits to warmongers like Putin” – quite a rich undertaking considering that Berlin never set any such limits for western warmongers who bombed Yugoslavia, invaded Iraq, or destroyed Libya in complete violation of international law.

    While openly proclaiming their desire to “stop the development of Russian industry,” damage its economy, and “ruin Russia” – echoing American edicts on Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya, Cuba, Venezuela and others in the Global South – the Germans could not possibly recognize a new categorical imperative.

    They were finally liberated from their WWII culpability complex by none other than Russian President Vladimir Putin. Germany is finally free to support and weaponize neo-Nazis out in the open all over again – now of the Ukrainian Azov battalion variety.

    To get the hang of how these NATO sanctions will “ruin Russia,” I asked for the succinct analysis of one of the most competent economic minds on the planet, Michael Hudson, author, among others, of a revised edition of the must-read Super-Imperialism: The Economic Strategy of American Empire.

    Hudson remarked how he is “simply numbed over the near-atomic escalation of the US.” On the confiscation of Russian foreign reserves and cut-off from SWIFT, the main point is “it will take some time for Russia to put in a new system, with China. The result will end dollarization for good, as countries threatened with ‘democracy’ or displaying diplomatic independence will be afraid to use US banks.”

    This, Hudson says, leads us to “the great question: whether Europe and the Dollar Bloc can buy Russian raw materials – cobalt, palladium, etc, and whether China will join Russia in a minerals boycott.”

    Hudson is adamant that “Russia’s Central Bank, of course, has foreign bank assets in order to intervene in exchange markets to defend its currency from fluctuations. The ruble has plunged. There will be new exchange rates. Yet it’s up to Russia to decide whether to sell its wheat to West Asia, that needs it; or to stop selling gas to Europe via Ukraine, now that the US can grab it.”

    About the possible introduction of a new Russia-China payment system bypassing SWIFT, and combining the Russian SPFS (System for Transfer of Financial Messages) with the Chinese CIPS (Cross-Border Interbank Payment System), Hudson has no doubts “the Russian-China system will be implemented. The Global South will seek to join and at the same time keep SWIFT – moving their reserves into the new system.”

    I’m going to de-dollarize myself

    So the US itself, in another massive strategic blunder, will speed up de-dollarization. As the managing director of Bocom International Hong Hao told the Global Times, with energy trade between Europe and Russia de-dollarized, “that will be the beginning of the disintegration of dollar hegemony.”

    It’s a refrain the US administration was quietly hearing last week from some of its own largest multinational banks, including notables like JPMorgan and Citigroup.

    A Bloomberg article sums up their collective fears:

    “Booting Russia from the critical global system – which handles 42 million messages a day and serves as a lifeline to some of the world’s biggest financial institutions – could backfire, sending inflation higher, pushing Russia closer to China, and shielding financial transactions from scrutiny by the west. It might also encourage the development of a SWIFT alternative that could eventually damage the supremacy of the US dollar.”

    Those with IQs over 50 in the European Union (EU) must have understood that Russia simply could not be totally excluded from SWIFT, but maybe only a few of its banks: after all, European traders depend on Russian energy.

    From Moscow’s point of view, that’s a minor issue. A number of Russian banks are already connected to China’s CIPS system. For instance, if someone wants to buy Russian oil and gas with CIPS, payment must be in the Chinese yuan currency. CIPS is independent of SWIFT.

    Additionally, Moscow already linked its SPFS payment system not only to China but also to India and member nations of the Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU). SPFS already links to approximately 400 banks.

    With more Russian companies using SPFS and CIPS, even before they merge, and other maneuvers to bypass SWIFT, such as barter trade – largely used by sanctioned Iran – and agent banks, Russia could make up for at least 50 percent in trade losses.

    The key fact is that the flight from the US-dominated western financial system is now irreversible across Eurasia – and that will proceed in tandem with the internationalization of the yuan.

    Russia has its own bag of tricks

    Meanwhile, we’re not even talking yet about Russian retaliation for these sanctions. Former President Dmitry Medvedev already gave a hint: everything, from exiting all nuclear arms deals with the US to freezing the assets of western companies in Russia, is on the table.

    So what does the “Empire of Lies” want? (Putin terminology, on Monday’s meeting in Moscow to discuss the response to sanctions.)

    In an essay published this morning, deliciously titled America Defeats Germany for the Third Time in a Century: the MIC, OGAM and FIRE conquer NATO, Michael Hudson makes a series of crucial points, starting with how “NATO has become Europe’s foreign policy-making body, even to the point of dominating domestic economic interests.”

    He outlines the three oligarchies in control of US foreign policy:

    First is the military-industrial complex, which Ray McGovern memorably coined as MICIMATT (military industrial Congressional intelligence media academia think tank).

    Hudson defines their economy base as “monopoly rent, obtained above all from its arms sales to NATO, to West Asian oil exporters and to other countries with a balance-of-payments surplus.”

    Second is the oil and gas sector, joined by mining (OGAM). Their aim is “to maximize the price of energy and raw materials so as to maximize natural resource rent. Monopolizing the Dollar Area’s oil market and isolating it from Russian oil and gas has been a major US priority for over a year now, as the Nord Stream 2 pipeline from Russia to Germany threatened to link the western European and Russian economies together.”

    Third is the “symbiotic” Finance, Insurance and Real Estate (FIRE) sector, which Hudson defines as “the counterpart to Europe’s old post-feudal landed aristocracy living by land rents.”

    As he describes these three rentier sectors that completely dominate post-industrial finance capitalism at the heart of the western system, Hudson notes how “Wall Street always has been closely merged with the oil and gas industry (namely, the Citigroup and Chase Manhattan banking conglomerates).”

    Hudson shows how “the most pressing US strategic aim of NATO confrontation with Russia is soaring oil and gas prices. In addition to creating profits and stock market gains for US companies, higher energy prices will take much of the steam out of the German economy.”

    He warns how food prices will rise “headed by wheat.” (Russia and Ukraine account for 25 percent of world wheat exports.) From a Global South perspective, that’s a disaster: “This will squeeze many West Asian and Global South food-deficient countries, worsening their balance of payments and threatening foreign debt defaults.”

    As for blocking Russian raw materials exports, “this threatens to cause breaks in supply chains for key materials, including cobalt, palladium, nickel, aluminum.”

    And that leads us, once again, to the heart of the matter: “The long-term dream of the US new Cold Warriors is to break up Russia, or at least to restore its managerial kleptocracy seeking to cash in their privatizations in western stock markets.”

    That’s not going to happen. Hudson clearly sees how “the most enormous unintended consequence of US foreign policy has been to drive Russia and China together, along with Iran, Central Asia and countries along the Belt and Road initiative.”

    Let’s confiscate some technology

    Now compare all of the above with the perspective of a central European business tycoon with vast interests, east and west, and who treasures his discretion.

    In an email exchange, the business tycoon posed serious questions about the Russian Central Bank support for its national currency, the ruble, “which according to US planning is being destroyed by the west through sanctions and currency wolf packs who are exposing themselves by selling rubles short. There is really almost no amount of money that can beat the dollar manipulators against the ruble. A 20 percent interest rate will kill the Russian economy unnecessarily.”

    The businessman argues that the chief effect of the rate hike “would be to support imports that should not be imported. The fall of the ruble is thus favorable to Russia in terms of self-sufficiency. As import prices rise, these goods should start to be produced domestically. I would just let the ruble fall to find its own level which will for a while be lower than natural forces would permit as the US will be driving it lower through sanctions and short selling manipulation in this form of economic war against Russia.”

    But that seems to tell only part of the story. Arguably, the lethal weapon in Russia’s arsenal of responses has been identified by the head of the Center for Economic Research of the Institute of Globalization and Social Movements (IGSO), Vasily Koltashov: the key is to confiscate technology – as in Russia ceasing to recognize US rights to patents.

    In what he qualifies as “liberating American intellectual property,” Koltashov calls for passing a Russian law on “friendly and unfriendly states. If a country turns out to be on the unfriendly list, then we can start copying its technologies in pharmaceuticals, industry, manufacturing, electronics, medicine. It can be anything – from simple details to chemical compositions.” This would require amendments to the Russian constitution.

    Koltashov maintains that “one of the foundations of success of American industry was copying of foreign patents for inventions.” Now, Russia could use “China’s extensive know-how with its latest technological production processes for copying western products: the release of American intellectual property will cause damage to the United States to the amount of $10 trillion, only in the first stage. It will be a disaster for them.”

    As it stands, the strategic stupidity of the EU beggars belief. China is ready to grab all Russian natural resources – with Europe left as a pitiful hostage of the oceans and of wild speculators. It looks like a total EU-Russia split is ahead – with little trade left and zero diplomacy.

    Let the games begin…

  7. I don’t know if this fascinating story ever hit SDA, I only discovered it this past weekend.

    Basically, a well-known YouTuber and extreme sport enthusiast filmed his own plane crash… but was it really an accident, or just a ploy to generate clicks? The evidence pretty clearly shows the latter! This is the most balanced video I found on the topic…

    Pilot Reacts To Trevor Jacob Crash Video

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=724JxkwWqA8

    Trevor Jacob… the Jussie Smollett of the sky!

  9. Pfizer’s list of “adverse events of special interest” is 9 pages?

    Makes me wonder if the list was created to obfuscate.

  10. I haven’t seen much of Fauci lately. 9 pages of vaccine side effects maybe?

  15. I have another reason to despise Prinz Dummkopf. Among my inheritance is a motley collection of coins and paper bills, some of them which I saved as a youngster and some from my father.

    I spoke to a coin dealer earlier this morning and I asked about the few Canadian $1 bills that I inherited. They no longer have any value and can’t even be exchanged at the bank. Now here’s the sneaky bit. Apparently, HRH decreed that such bills, though worthless to me, go into general government revenue as a way of “balancing the budget”.

    I’m sure that a lot of my fellow Canadians got suckered by that.

    So, those Canadian $1 may as well be used as bookmarks. Why not, eh? Our currency is next to bleedin’ worthless thanks to his and Perogy Thighs’s economic policies.

      1. They might be worthless now, too.

        I remember hearing that the bills weren’t going to be accepted as legal tender, but I don’t recall any mention that they couldn’t be exchanged for loonies or toonies. Then again, we should be used to the Prinz Dummkopf government not being completely honest with us.

  16. Question: — Not sure where to post this, but I would like your thoughts. In Ontario (and some other places) vaccine passports/verification are no longer required. Sadly, some institutions have decided they will still have their own vaccine requirement to use their services. While this might be ok for private companies, in my view it is not OK for public institutions like the National Gallery, Museum of Nature, etc. which are supported by all taxpayers. The mandates are based on the irrational belief that non-vaxed are more likely to transmit the virus. As far as I know, there is no solid evidence for this — though lots of spin and innuendo. If you know of some solid research proving this, I would like to know about this, but everything I have encountered is either really shaky, not statistically significant or simply propaganda — some of it originally intended to provoke people into getting vaccinated. The policies against unvaccinated are clearly discriminatory. They also perpetuate the unfounded belief that non-vaxed are somehow dangerous. It’s appalling. So, my question is, can these policies even be legal? Your comments on this are much appreciated.

    1. Based on watching Ezra Levant’s daily video reports, which often address the legality of vaccine passports and imposing mask wearing, no court has as yet struck them down as violating the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Some courts, however, have cancelled fines imposed on people for not following provincial rules on Wu Flu prevention. However, none of these decisions has involved the judge making a finding related to the Charter.

      There is at least one challenge to vaccine passports before the courts. In B.C., the Canadian Constitution Foundation has brought the challenge:
      https://theccf.ca/bcvax-nextsteps/

      Since the two museums you mention in Ottawa requiring vaccine passports are federal institutions, it is not surprising that they are following the directives of the Dear Leader (praise be his name!) who wants to keep his totalitarian control over Canadians for as long as possible.

      1. Thanks for your thoughts. The problem as I see it is that there is an assumption that vaccines are protecting people and that unvaxed are a threat for increased spreading of the virus. Both of these are untrue. The legal constraints may have been supported by the courts, but now that the government directives are being removed, I am seeing straight-up discrimination with no scientific evidence to support such discrimination. I do hope there are more challenges coming. I know that Brian Peckford has a court case going that is challenging vax requirements for travel.

        1. My sister’s significant other is still suffering from “Vaxxine Injury.” This is after he received a Booster shot. This exact diagnosis was given by a Florida Cardiologist. Here’s an update:

          He is still in agony all day for the last 2 months and is frustrated having a swollen hand and extreme pain and weakness in the leg/arm areas.

          His latest tests showed his heart muscle to be very strong. His Cardiologist feels strongly that since he’s not had AFib very long it is suggested he should have a “cardiovention” which is a procedure done under general anesthetic and takes roughly 4 minutes to do; he’ll be out for a few hours. Basically they give the heart a zap of electricity to reset the rhythm. There are risks and the main one is that he could have a stroke or in a worst case scenario, suffers cardiac arrest. Both are extremely rare occurances. He is scheduled for this procedure this month.

          For the swelling and pain he is referred to another physician. The poor man lives in a state of pain and depression.

  17. While the legacy media has remained largely uncritical of the abject failure of the RCMP’s response to Gabriel Wortman’s killing spree in Nova Scotia, at least the Globe & Mail is providing daily coverage of what is emerging at the public inquiry. And it is story of unimaginable cowardice and incompetence.

    The latest development is that none of the RCMP officers involved want to appear at the inquiry because they are afraid of being traumatized (I wonder if any of these 17 were sent to Ottawa by the RCMP to brutalize and traumatize the Freedom Convoy protestors?).

    “A lawyer representing 17 Nova Scotia RCMP officers in a public inquiry into the April, 2020, mass shootings says the police shouldn’t be forced to testify in upcoming hearings, because doing so would be too traumatic for them.”

    https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-rcmp-nova-scotia-shooting-inquiry/

    1. As I write this, the Globe & Mail is still allowing comments to be posted about this article. All of the comments so far are highly critical of the RCMP officers for refusing to testify.

  20. Not sure if this has been reported on this site before:

    https://t.me/s/freedomchain

    This Saturday there is (supposedly) going to be a chain of people holding hands along the entire length of the Trans-Canada Highway. Sounds rather optimistic to me since the TC Hwy is 7,476km long, and if there is one person every metre, it will require nearly 7.5 million participants!

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